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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions.
This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization.
Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

FAIRBANKS — Denali National Park and Preserve's wolf numbers hit a new low this spring with an estimated population of 48 wolves inside the park, according to a Park Service study.

The National Park Service estimates the park wolf population twice each year using radio-collared wolves and an analysis of a handful of un-collared wolves believed to live in and around the park. The study dates back to 1986. This spring's population estimate is the lowest since an estimate of 46 wolves in fall 1986. It's the lowest on record for any spring survey.

Opponents of wolf hunting and trapping have long used the study to advocate for re-establishing a buffer zone to ban wolf hunting and trapping on state land adjacent to the national park. In 2010, Alaska's Board of Game removed a wolf hunting and trapping-free buffer zone in state land adjacent to the park.

Gunner claiming a Wolf that he shot in Alaska

In a status report on the wolf survey last week, the park's Chief Wildlife Biologist Steve Arthur said the decline was likely linked to two non-human factors. Low snowfall made it easier for caribou and moose to flee wolves, he said. The numbers also dropped because of better tracking technology from GPS collars, he said. The tracking technology expanded biologists' understanding of the wolves' home range, which is used to calculate the wolf population estimate. The park population estimate was the lowest spring survey on record but not the lowest count of wolves. Biologists counted 52 wolves during the survey.

Two of the nine wolves who died in 2014 and early 2015 were killed legally by trappers or hunters, according to the survey. That's about the same proportion as other recent years. A total of about nine wolves died. Besides the two killed by humans, two wolves were killed by other wolves, one died from old age, one drowned, one starved and two died from unidentified non-human causes, according to the survey. At least 14 pups born in 2014 survived into the fall.

The Alaska Board of Game has rejected several petitions to re-establish the wolf hunting and trapping buffer zone around Denali National Park, most recently at its meeting last month. The state game boards takes a wildly different approach to wolf hunting regulations than the National Park Service. In addition to allowing hunting and trapping, the state pays Fish and Game employs to shoot some wolves from helicopters as part of its intensive management program. The program's designed to increase moose populations by keeping predator numbers low.

The state doesn't track wolf populations as closely as the park service but estimates the statewide population is between 7,000 and 11,000. Wolves have never been threatened or endangered in Alaska.

Two Massachusetts Eastern Coyotes at their den site

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Aldo Leopold--3 quotes from his SAN COUNTY ALMANAC

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Aldo Leopold

''To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife Rendezvous

Like so many conscientious hunters and anglers come to realize, good habitat with our full suite of predators and prey make for healthy and productive living............Teddy Roosevelt depicted at a "WILDLIFE RENDEZVOUS"

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This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of my various thoughts and opinions, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Rick Meril and WWW.COYOTES-WOLVES-COUGARS.COM make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.